Hidden treasures
Dominic Roskrow gets off the beaten track in Guadalupe and has a spirit[ual] reawakening…
One of the major benefits of our online world today is the way in which it allows small producers to compete with the biggest companies, without having to have vast advertising budgets.
Over the years, and as familiarity with new communication methods has grown, a brave new world of blogs, forums and specialty interest groups has developed. What is happening online is to the world of communication what punk rock was to the world of music: the establishment is being ignored, while anyone who wants to can try their hand at spotting new trends or writing about obscure and marginal topics.
There are caveats, of course. Fake news is as prevalent in the world of spirits as it is in politics. And there is any number of people who will repeat what a public relations person blurts out without bothering to check its accuracy or worthiness. And far too many people will regurgitate any amount of marketing rubbish in a bid to keep on a company’s list for free samples, luxury trips, and fine dining in five-star hotels. All of which make the life of the serious spirits writer tougher than it should be.
“Fake news is as prevalent in the world of spirits as it is in politics. ”
Why give samples to someone who is going to be brutally honest about your product? On one occasion I was told I wouldn’t be getting a sample because the spirit was aimed at a different consumer – one who is more entry level. Think about that for a minute.
But back to the internet. While it has certainly helped to make us more aware of small distilleries in far-off places, many remain obscure and undiscovered by a wide audience.
Take rhum agricole. This is a less sweet, more ‘spirity’ rum made in the French colonies in the West Indies. It is made with sugar cane juice, rather than molasses.
I was fortunate to travel to Guadalupe for a week recently, as one of 120 judges from Spirits Selection by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, a gathering of the world’s top retailers, writers, distillers, educators and influencers, covering everything from ubiquitous spirits to Chinese baijiu, Peruvian pisco and Brazilian cachaça.
The trip included visits to a few rhum agricole distilleries, which were mainly very old and artisanal with passionate and proud distillers who had in-depth knowledge of myriad types of sugar cane. Tasting their spirits with the background of the golden sunlight and the deep blue sea was a revelation; sipping the rhum with barbecue food made it impossible not to fall in love with it.
The Guadalupe trip produced another surprise. One of my judging flights was tequila. I hate tequila. At least I thought I did, but all six of my samples were a total delight. So how did that happen? Because, said the chairman of our judging panel, the tequilas we were tasting were almost certainly not available in many parts of the world, and as where I live has no history of tequila consumption, the best examples of the spirit were simply not available to me.
What all of this means is that diversity and choice are at a premium, and no matter how deeply you delve into the world of spirits, there will always be something new and special to discover. You lucky, lucky people.
Dominic Roskrow is a UK-based world spirits expert and editor of Stills Crazy
